Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

stage, one may practice in daily life.
4. After the previous stage, one acquires supernormal
powers. When these are reduced in Chan nature and
everything is done quite naturally and purely, then one
attains the Full Enlightenment of Chan.
As we saw, some people have the idea that Chan (being
etymologically derived from Sanskrit dhyana), is a
common meditation. To show that this is far from being
the case, I offer some Gong An (koan) stories:
Once Ma Zu was meditating in his hut while his guru
Nan Yue sat outside and seemed to be polishing a brick.
When Ma Zu finally asked him what he was doing, the
guru replied: "Making a mirror." At this Ma Zu
expostulated, saying that mirrors can never be made
from bricks. His guru rejoined, "Buddhas can never be
made by meditation." Ma Zu, discouraged, asked,
"How?" Nan Yue said, "If the carriage does not go,
should you strike the carriage or the oxen?" Ma Zu
replied, "The oxen."
Therefore, Chan is not just meditation.
Again, there is the example of Lin Ji and his guru
Huang Bo. The latter, making his rounds among his
disciples, came to Lin Ji, who at that time was only a
young monk. Lin Ji was lying down asleep on his bed.
His guru knocked three times with his staff on the bed.
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